The Felt Tips - "Boyfriend Devoted". You try to set aside all the complications, all the things that come between you, all the reasons why not. There's no point hashing through things, discussing the issues. Oral arguments aren't going to be persuasive. Here's the situation, sing the Felt Tips: my boyfriend is hooked on Christianity and will no longer come to bed with me. But the words of this song are not the words of a love-song. The lyrics are not an attempt to win him back, or an argument for turning away from Christ. There's not one phrase devoted to the boyfriend's redeeming qualities. No, the lyrics explain the situation, that is all. And the rest - the affection, the devotion, the laughter, the love, - this doesn't need to be stated. Not a word needs to be spared. Because that love, it's there in the gorgeous Orange Juice jangle of guitar, in the jubilance of the melody, in the gold & starlight of all that song. It's there as clear as that look across the room, eyes to eyes, i to thou, your heart going ping.

The Felt Tips are from Glasgow and they remind me of Orange Juice, The Smiths, and puddles on a sunny day. They'll remind you of the kind of rainy days you've missed ever since (s)he's gone.

[MySpace]

Raise High The Roof Beam - "Break My Heart In Two". When the uke's joined by a forest, a choir and a cockleshell beach, "Break My Heart In Two" sounds almost like a 69 Love Songs out-take. It's also got laser guns, weird pseudo hip-hop backtalk, and an address to Abraham Lincoln. In other words, it's a gentle bit of mess. But I get it, I think I do - because when your heart's been broken in two, when it's rended and wrenched, yr life tends to get gently messy. You sit in yr forest, yr cockleshell beach, in a pile of pinecones and laser guns and postcards and old photographs, trying to teach yourself the fucking ukelele.

[MySpace]

---

Montrealers! This Thursday at Sala Rossa there's an amazing show for the amazing price of pay-what-you-can. Shapes & Sizes, Sister Suvi (aka Tuneyards), Telefauna and The Luyas -- aka, seriously for real, four of our favourite bands in the whole city, yes including the famous bands. (And all were profiled during our run at Ajisignal.) I basically think you'd be an idiot if you didn't go.

Remember to enter our Wonderful Video Contest! Under a month to go and there's tons of rooms for more submissions. To answer a couple recent questions: yes, you can (and should) enter even if you live outside North America! and yes, you can (and should) enter even if you are a kid!

[photo source]